Constellations
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: When the clouds hide the stars on date night, they decide to make their own constellations. Armada project: 6/365


**I highly recommend glow in the dark bubbles. They're amazing.**

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"...It doesn't look like we'll be doing any stargazing tonight," Lucy observed, letting the curtain fall back into place. She turned to the other two, and sighed. "The weather report said it would be all clear for tonight!"

Shrugging, Jellal sedately began to pack up their instruments and telescopes. "It is what it is," he stated. "No sense getting worked up over it. We'll just have to reschedule."

A groan emanated from the prone form on the couch. "It was hard enough to schedule this!" The woman began to gesture widely. "Who knows when we'll next be in Magnolia? We hardly ever see Lucy as it is!"

Jellal sighed, setting down the equipment. He approached the celestial mage on the couch, lifting her legs so he could sit down. She plunked the appendages into his lap once he had settled, with a flash of a dare in her violet eyes. "Sorano..." Jellal admonished gently. "What would you have me do? Change the weather?"

Sorano rolled her eyes, and pursed her lips. "Not even you're capable of that."

"Actually," Lucy interjected, gently lifting Sorano's shoulders and sliding onto the couch as well, "with enough force applied straight up, you can change the barometric pressure, leading to a breakup of the cloud cover." She guided Sorano's head into her lap, running her fingers through her long, silvery hair. "So in theory, it's possible."

"Ha!" the fugitive let out a short laugh. "It would also effectively announce my presence, and then there would be no time to stop and look at the stars. We'd have to run immediately."

The celestial mage turned so that her nose was pressed into Lucy's soft abdomen. "I just wanted to go stargazing," she mumbled.

Lucy giggled at the tickling sensation. "Why don't you go with Yukino sometime?"

"She goes stargazing with her girlfriend all the time. I want to do it with _mine_ every once in a while."

Jellal put on an expression of mock-indignation. "What about me, then?"

"I see your ugly mug every day."

"Ouch," he replied, though his smile was apparent in his voice. "What a way to talk about your boyfriend."

Fingers continuing to rub Sorano's head, Lucy hummed in thought. "We could always do something else."

"Too tired for _that._ "

She laughed at Sorano's grumbling. "That's not what I was suggesting!" Though it definitely had appeal. It had been a long time since the three of them were last... together in that way. Lucy couldn't help but envy her companions' ability to spend so much time together, and to _be_ together, when she wasn't able to. It was due to their status as escaped criminals, she knew. The knowledge did nothing to ease the frustration at their separation, however. On the other hand, it wasn't as if she was going to tell them that they couldn't relieve themselves without her present - she didn't care to restrict them, though she had no doubt they would have listened to her demands. But it did leave her lonely at times.

"If you're so tired, we could always just go to sleep," suggested Jellal. "It is getting rather late, after all."

"No! I am spending _awake_ time with both of you."

Jellal let out a snort at her protest. "Greedy," he teased.

"Can you blame me?" Sorano shifted again, so that she could look up at her lovers.

Lucy smiled gently. "Of course not."

"Then what's next?" Jellal wondered.

"I think Natsu and Happy left some glow in the dark bubbles the last time they were here," mused Lucy.

Sorano laughed. "Bubbles? Seriously? How old are those two, again?"

Tapping a staccato beat on her legs, Jellal suddenly ordered, "Let me up."

Lifting her legs in compliance, Sorano stared after him as he stood and stretched. "Wait... you aren't really going to get them, are you?"

"I have an idea. Could you two clear a spot on the floor and set up some pillows?"

"So... bubbles and a _fort?_ " Sorano asked, sitting up. "Really going up in the maturity department, I see."

Jellal merely smiled at her, before wandering to the supply cabinet. When he returned a few minutes later, he had two bottles of glow in the dark bubbles in hand. "Nice nest," he complimented the pair's work.

" _Now_ are you going to explain what's going on?" Sorano demanded.

He brandished the bubbles. "We're going to blow these. But at the walls."

Sorano stared at him in dumbfoundment, but Lucy brightened immediately, understanding what he was trying to do. "I get it!" she said, delighted. She turned to Sorano. "The liquid the bubbles are made from glow in the dark - so when they pop, the liquid left behind on the wall will, too! If we can't see the stars, we'll make our own!"

It wasn't long before the threesome had covered every wall in the apartment, and the furniture and floor as well at Sorano's suggestion.

Since it was her apartment, Lucy stood ready at the light-switch while Jellal and Sorano settled into place on the floor. She peered at them quizzically, and at the empty space they left between them. "You want me to try to crawl over you in the dark?"

A smirk pulled at Jellal's lips. "That wouldn't be so bad. But I suspect you'll be able to see well enough."

Lucy shrugged, trusting his judgement, and flicked off the lights.

The sight that greeted her was unlike any other.

It was as if... as if she were standing in the middle of space itself - stars above, below, all around. On her own skin, too, she discovered - stars peppered across her fingertips, and up her arms. Not even the Celestial World could quite prepare her for the experience.

She... had no words to describe the feelings sweeping through her. Like a tidal wave, emotion rose up inside, and then they spilled out in the tears dripping down her face.

From the sharp intake of air from the other two, Lucy imagined that they were having much the same reaction as her. Wiping away the liquid lingering on her cheeks, Lucy stepped carefully towards them. True to what Jellal had theorized, Lucy could see just enough to avoid planting a foot in their stomachs. Sinking into place between Jellal and Sorano, she sighed in contentment as they pressed into her sides. Warm and secure between them, Lucy couldn't help but smile at the stars on their skin - some even on their faces from stray (and not so stray) bubbles.

The rest of the night, they traced out the constellations all around them.


End file.
